Wettest winters for UK, since 1910

Britain, battered by powerful storms and heavy rain, has had the wettest winter since 1910, the Met Office said today.

Regional records have also been beaten, with the flood-hit South East of England getting well over double the rainfall expected in a normal winter, the BBC reported.

The continuous heavy rain is the reason for extensive flooding in most parts of Britain. About 6,500 homes have been affected by floods since December, with many people have been forced to evacuate their homes.

Provisional figures released by the Met Office said 517.6mm of rain fell in UK between December 1 and February
24. The south-east and central southern England had already broken the winter record on February 11 with a total of 439.2mm. According to the England and Wales precipitation records, some 435mm of rain fell this winter, beating the previous highest total of 423mm in 1914-1915.

A Met Office statement said: ” The main reason for the mild and wet winter weather is that we have seen predominance of west and south-west winds, bringing in mild air from the Atlantic – as well as the
unsettled and at times stormy conditions.”, he added.

The average temperature over the past three months has been 5.2 centigrade, about 1.5 centigrade higher than the typical winter.

The latest UK-wide figures also show the heavy rain in February led to south-east and central southern England
receiving 133.3mm, almost two-and-a-half times the monthly average.

The flooding caused widespread disruption to travel services, including damage to rail services in the west
country, and has impacted on local business and tourism.